Before The Rain
by jayhogartismyangel
Summary: Three years ago, Fifteen year old, KC Guthrie and his sister, Madison Alexandra Guthrie were seperated in the foster care system. What happens when she comes back?
1. Prologue

**Before The Rain**

**Summary: Three years ago, Fifteen year old, KC Guthrie and his sister, Madison Alexandra Guthrie were seperated in the foster care system. What happens when she comes back?**

**Pairings: KC Guthrie/Clare Edwards and Declan Coyne/Madison Guthrie. **

**Rated: Teen**

**Prologue:**

Madison Alexandra Guthrie smoothed her hands down the pair of formfitting jeans she wore slowly as she shook out her long, mahogany hair. The pale yellow off the shoulder sweater that she wore, clung to her curves. She smiled at her reflection as her big, green eyes darted to the picture that she'd put next to the mirror. A picture of her and her brother at the ages of fourteen and twelve. KC--or rather, Kenneth Christopher Guthrie, would be fifteen now.

The two teens had been seperated three years ago when they'd been placed into the foster care system. Just this year, as soon as she'd hit her seventeenth birthday, she had emancipated herself from the people who had taken her in. It wasn't that she wasn't thankful for everything that theyd done for her. She just needed to be with her family and that was KC. She grabbed the light gray and lilac wool coat and slipped it on. Today would be her first day at Degrassi and her first time seeing her brother in three years. She felt nervousness fill her. She didn't know how KC would react. Would he be angry at her for not being there for him? Her brother had always been one to hold a grudge.

************

KC pushed his sandy brown hair from his eyes and wrapped his arms around his girlfriend, Clare Edward's waist. He tugged her against his chest and pressed a kiss on the top of her curly head, causing her to laugh.

She slid her hands over his which rested on her stomach as she talked to Alli and Connor, not noticing as KC became still as stone.

His eyes fell on the girl who had her head ducked down, looking at a sheet of yellow paper. Her delicate eyebrows were drawn as she clutched the sheet with pink, painted nails. Her hair was swept up into a bun with strands of mahogany locks framing her small tanned face. He could recognize her even from this distance. The hair and face was a dead give-away. She raised her eyes as if feeling his gaze on her and their eyes connected, widening in recognition and disbelief.

"Maddie?" KC said in awe, mouth open.

"Kenneth?" The girl said sharply, eyes looking much too big for her face as they widened even more.

Clare, Alli, and Connor stared in shock at the two teens, wondering how they knew one another.

"_Kenneth?" _Alli hissed under her breath so only Connor and Clare could hear. Her nose wrinkled up in disgust. "Eww! I don't blame him for calling himself KC!"

Neither Connor nor Clare replied, much too busy watching the interaction between the Maddie and KC.

Suddenly, the girl let out a squeal and threw herself at him, wrapping in a hug. Her schedule sheet fluttered to the ground with the movement and Clare bent to pick it up, blue eyes widening when she saw the name written up top.

**'Guthrie, Madison.'**

**To be continued: KC introduces his friends to his sister, the siblings tell the story of why they were ceberated, Maddie meets Declan and Fiona.**


	2. Chapter One

**Before The Rain**

**A/N: "Shoot to Thrill, was a good episode. Fiona is different than her brother. Declan sounded so cute when he said, "gaydar" I flove him! I think Fiona/Riley make good friends. Peter and Fiona will probably be the ones who are there for him whenever he decides to come out of the closet. Well that and Mr. Hot Nameless Dude who he's talking to in that one promo. Is that gonna be who he's supposed to punch? Clare and Alli taking photography class is interesting. Peter and Craig used to be into cameras. Then Craig became a musician and lost the bushy hair. And Simpson's reaction to seeing the picture on the phone totally reminded me of Craig's look after Marco kissed him. And I still remember Craig's words, "So when in doubt, you kiss Craig??!!" Is it wrong that I wanted those two to hook up? I liked them better than Darco. **

**Confession time: In the promo that had Sav and Peter, before Degrassi premired---I was way to distracted by Peter's pretty blue eyes to even care about the fact that the promo was hinting at him taking Meth. Yeah.**

**OH! And will we **_**ever **_**learn what the hell Connor's last name is?**

**Chapter One**

Alli looked over Clare's shoulder to see what had shocked her best friend so much. She let out a stunned squeal, covering her mouth with her hands.

Madison broke away from her brother and brushed the stray strands of hair behind a small ear. She smiled nervously as she stood next to him, staring at the three people infront of her.

KC looked at his girlfriend and friends guiltily. They were all staring at him in disbelief. He'd never even hinted to them about having an older sister.

As if sensing her brother's nervousness, Madison took a step forward. "Um...hi." She said, carefully lifting a hand to waggle her fingers at the three younger teenagers.

Suddenly, KC cleared his throat and said, "Guys, this is my older sister Madison. Madison, this is my girlfriend Clare and my friends, Connor and Alli." He watched as Clare was the first to step forward and shake Madison's hand.

"Nice to meet you, Madison. I hope you like it here at Degrassi." Clare said, finally getting over her shock as she smiled brightly and shook the older girl's hand. To say that this was a suprise would be the understatement of the century. She could clearly see the similarities in Madison's and KC's facial features.

"How come we never knew that you had a sister, KC?" Alli asked the very question that they'd all been wondering. Her dark eyes were narrowed and her hands were on her hips as she looked at her friend curiously.

KC shifted his feet uncomfortably. A question of his past. He should've known that they'd wonder about it. Especially Clare. His eyes flitted down to stare at the floor in shame. He felt guilty for never telling her anything about all this, though he'd had his reasons for it. Finally, he opened his mouth to speak. "Madison and I were seperated by the foster system when I was twelve and she was fourteen.

I was put in with a family who had kids of their own and foster kids and Maddie was taken in by first time foster parents. We tried to stay in contact but weren't able to."

Madison nodded. "I just got myself emancipated from them. It's not their fault. I mean. They took care of me and I know that they love me, I just.....I needed to be with my brother. He's my family." She said to them with a gentle shrug of her shoulders, green eyes looking at the three young teens infront of her.

"How did you find me anyway?" Her brother asked, raising his eyebrows as he looked at her.

"I found an old news article on the internet. Actually, I found several. I know that you are on the basketball team and last semester, you four participated in something called Bot Wars." She didn't mention the fact that she'd also found out that he'd been arrested the year before for stealing a car with his friends and for busting some other guy's kneecaps. That article had been shocking but it had also mentioned the fact that he'd been placed in Nash Bright's group home for troubled kids and teens.

Just then, the bell rang, signaling the first class of the day. Madison groaned before reaching out to hug her brother once more and then heading to class.

*********

KC, Clare, Connor, and Alli stood in awkward, uncomfortable silence for a few moments. They all stared at one another with wide eyes. None of them knew what to say.

"We---should be getting to class." Alli finally said, breaking the silence as she grabbed Clare's arm with one firm hand and began to pull her along.

KC didn't say anything, just stared at their retreating forms as he took in a deep breath. He knew that his girlfriend and friends would want an explanation---he just wasn't ready to give one yet.

*********

Madison walked into the lunch room and got her tray of food. She eyed the tables for a place to sit. She saw her brother and his friends and was about to go over but decided against it. She really didn't want to make KC uncomfortable nor interrupt the discussion the four seemed to be having. Her eyes fell on a table where a boy and a girl both of whom, who looked about sixteen sat. They seemed well off, judging by their clothing and the girl had a fancy container that seemed to contain sushi. Sighing, she walked over and stood by the table. "May I sit here?" She asked.

The girl took a swallow of her diet pepsi and then nodded. "Sure." She told her, watching as the girl took a seat beside her gratefully. "Are you new here? I don't think that I've seen you around before.

Madison nodded her head. "I just moved here about a week ago to live near my brother. I'm Madison Guthrie." She said.

"Fiona. Fiona Coyne." She held out a hand for Maddie to shake, smiling all the while."My brother, Declan and I are new here too. We just moved to Toronto this semester."

"Our father seemed to think that public school would be good for us." The boy---Declan said with distane, obviously not in love with the idea of it.

Madison eyed them with alarm. "You mean this is your first time in public school?" She asked with alarm, looking right at Declan.

He smirked at her and nodded. "We never stay in one place for long but we've always went to private schools until this year. One thing that doesn't change though is the fact that my sister, seems to attract dirtbags."

Fiona rolled her eyes at him. He always had to bring that up for some reason. "Don't listen to him. He didn't even want to come to this school in the first place. Degrassi isn't that bad. It's better than some of the places I've been to. And I can tell you this. Private school guys are no different than these public school guys. They are all really immature."

Maddie laughed along with Declan and Fiona and thought that she just might enjoy this school.

**Next Chapter: KC explains, Madison goes to KC's group home, Maddie meets Peter and Riley.**


	3. Chapter Two

**Before The Rain**

**Chapter Two**

KC walked over to his girlfriend after the last class of the day. His arms slid around her waist and he rested his head on her shoulder, kissing her ear softly.

Clare turned in his arms and rested her hands on his chest as she smiled up at him. "Hey." She said as she rested her head on his chest, hearing his heartbeat in her. She closed her eyes and gave a content sigh. She needed to talk to him about Madison sometime today. She didn't want to pressure him into telling her, but she couldn't help her curiousity. How could her boyfriend never mention having an older sister? From what she could see, the two loved one another so how was it that she hadn't even seen a picture of Madison Alexandra Guthrie before? Was the story too painful?

He pulled away and frowned as he looked down at the expression on her face. "What's wrong?" He asked of her with concern.

She looked up at him, a little unsure. "I wanted to ask about your sister and why you've never mentioned her before. How come I've never even seen a picture of her before?" She asked of him, sounding a little hurt that he'd kept something so big from her.

KC sighed and pulled her closer, lowering his head into her hair and breathing in the scent of her shampoo. "I'll tell you when we get to my group home." He mumbled into her long locks.

----------

"So tell me," Clare finally said, breaking the silence as they sat on his bed. "Why did you never mention Madison?" She sat close to him, wanting him to know that she was there for him.

KC lowered his eyes to his lap where their entwined hands rested. "It was always hard to think about her. She was pretty much the only family that I ever had. Despite being only a couple of years older than me, she was more of a parent to me than our own parents were. When mom and dad would be too drunk or gone or on their drugs, Madison was the one to make sure I got dinner or breakfast on time and she'd pack me a lunch for school. She'd make sure that I got my homework in on time and would deal with me if I got in trouble at school. Then when mom and dad were arrested, a lady from social services came and said that we needed to go with her. She seperated us and put us in different foster families. After being seperated from my sister, I started to care less and less about school or what people thought of me. I was too much to handle for _alot _of my foster parents. I went into alot of different foster homes while Maddie's first set of fosters adopted her."

She lowered her head when her boyfriend finished his story---atleast as much as he was going to tell for today, anyway. She couldn't believe that KC and Madison had went through all that. She couldn't imagine being as strong as Maddie was for her brother until the time that they were taken away from one another. She was about to reply, only to be cut off by the door opening.

The two young teens looked up from the bed to see Madison standing in the open doorway hesitantly. Her cheeks were rosy from the winter weather and her hair fell freely from the bun it had been in earlier that day. She was chewing her lip nervously, seemingly unsure of what to do.

"Maddie." KC said in surprise as he looked at his sister. "What are you doing here?"

Madison closed the door and leaned against it for a moment, smiling at her brother and Clare tearfully. "I wanted to visit my little brother." She stated simply. Her eyes then went to Clare "Clare. Hey!" She said, giving her a friendly grin.

The younger girl smiled and gave Madison a small wave. "Hello Madison."

"You can call me Maddie, you know." Madison commented lightly as she took a seat in the metal chair across from the bed.

"What did Nash say when he saw you?" KC asked, swallowing the lump in his throat has he lowered his eyes to his comforter.

Madison shrugged as she lifted a leg up into the chair lazily, resting the heel of her foot on the edge and resting her chin on her knee. "Nothing much. I think that I shocked the hell out of him."

"Well Nash probably didn't expect you to come here what with all the years you and I had no contact." KC stated with a weary groan, running a hand through his locks of hair.

A hurt expression came upon Madison's face and she didn't say anything in reply.

"Look, I should probably go." Clare said, seeming unsure. She didn't want to get in the middle of a family arguement. Not to mention, it was hard to watch KC almost bring his sister to tears.

The older girl shook her head and held out a hand to stop the younger girl. "There's no need. I'm leaving anyway. I probably shouldn't have come in the first place without telling KC first." Without another word, the girl ducked out of the room, trying hard to control her emotions.

Clare gave her boyfriend a disapproving look as soon as the door had closed behind Maddie. "_KC!" _She hissed through her clenched teeth. "What the hell was that? You about made Maddie _cry!"_ She sounded appalled as she said the last word.

He finally raised his eyes to meet his girlfriend's. Hurt filled his own hazel eyes. "I can't help it Clare. What if I lose her again? She's the only family I have."

"So it's better to push her away and not have her in your life at all?" She asked in disbelief as she wrapped him in her comforting arms and leaned her head against his.

KC didn't say anything, taking his girlfriend's words into account.

-------------

Madison wasn't watching where she was going as she blindly stumbled into The Dot. She was much too upset about what had just occured between she and KC. She knew that she shouldn't take offense. Her brother wasn't mad at _her_, he was just trying to protect himself. But still. Because of her distraction, she bumped into someone and quickly looked up, coming face to face with two guys from her English class, Riley Stavros and Peter Stone.

**To be continued....**

**Next Chapter: Peter, Riley, and Madison talk, KC and Madison finally have the conversation they've been needing, Maddie and Declan grow closer, an unexpected offer.**


End file.
